Overnight on Monday into Tuesday, Ukraine launched a major drone attack on the Moscow area, one that, among other targets, hit the Volodarskaya Line Production and Dispatch Station (LPDS), a major oil depot that supplies fuel in the area.
According to the Kyiv Post, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Telegram that 650 drones approached Moscow overnight and claimed air defenses intercepted most of them.
Ukraine Cruise Missile. Image Credit: Government of Ukraine.
Ukraine War TOS-2. Image Credit: X Screenshot.
Moscow Oblast Governor Andrei Vorobyov claimed that 105 drones were intercepted and that one person was killed.
About the Depot
Transnefteprodukt, part of Russia’s state-owned Transneft oil pipeline company, owns the Volodarskaya Line Production and Dispatch Station.
It supplies fuel to Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Sheremetyevo, Moscow’s three largest airports, Kyiv Post said.
Last week, Ukraine struck another large Russian oil hub, the Samara LDPS in Samara Oblast.
Ukraine has been stepping up attacks on oil infrastructure in Russia in recent weeks.
Ukraine War Map. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Neptune Missile. Image Credit: Government of Ukraine.
Russia has 32 oil refineries, most of which have been hit at some point during the war.
Half the Capacity?
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry claimed it has knocked out more than half of Russia’s refining capacity, as reported by the Associated Press.
After attacks on refineries in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Ust-Luga, Perm, Saratov, and Syzran, Ukraine said it knocked out 51 percent of Russia’s capacity, although the AP could not confirm the figure.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara attributed the 51 percent figure to Ukraine’s intelligence services, General Staff and the Defense Ministry, and called the lost capacity “a significant blow to the enemy’s economy, to its ability to carry out aggression and supply its troop groupings.”
“They started attacking oil refineries and openly declared the goal of damaging our economy,” Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at the Valdai Club address last week, the AP said.
Putin, however, claimed the attacks had knocked out only about 1 percent of Russia’s GDP.
Oil From South Korea
The Guardian reported Tuesday that Russia has turned to an unlikely place for its oil needs: South Korea.
The newspaper’s analysis found that Russia received 150,000 tons of fuel in July and August, some carried by sanctioned vessels.
The oil left South Korean ports on seven tankers that made 14 voyages to Russia’s Far Eastern coast, according to the Guardian’s investigation.
The U.K. and the European Union have sanctioned three of the vessels.
South Korea is nominally supportive of Ukraine in the war, while North Korea is supportive of Russia, including sending soldiers and weapons to the frontline.
However, The Guardian reported that South Korea has sought to find “balance” between its support for Ukraine and its desire for better relations with Russia.
South Korea has sent armor, helmets, and other items to Ukraine during the war, along with financial support.
But South Korea has not provided weapons, as part of its longstanding policy of not providing weapons to foreign wars.
Isaac Levi, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), told the Guardian that it was “shocking” that sanctioned tankers had brought oil from South Korea to Russia, which “undermines the sanctions regime and South Korea’s support for Ukraine.”
No Oil Truce
President Donald Trump, in recent weeks, has been pushing Russia and Ukraine to stop attacking each other’s oil refineries, in light of the skyrocketing price of diesel.
At one point, in mid-September, Trump even declared that the two sides had agreed to halt such attacks.
However, as with most of Trump’s attempts to end or de-escalate the war, this did not succeed, and both countries later denied reaching any such agreement.
A potential truce was discussed around the time of the United Nations General Assembly, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky telling Trump he would support it.
However, days later, Putin made it clear that Russia was not interested in any such agreement.
“We are told: ‘Let them stop striking your refineries, and you will stop striking their ships.’ It is simply ridiculous,” the Russian president said last week during his address at the Valdai political forum in Moscow, as reported by Al Jazeera.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
